Hi Beloved,

As far as I am aware there is no guideline for keeping the offering envelopes.

Once the information recorded on them is corroborated with what is in them and that is recorded elsewhere they can go into the recycling bin.

At most they might be kept until tax receipts are issued for charitable donations.  They aren't much use for anything beyond that.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Thanks Rev. John . . . I'm thinking we would be keeping ours for at least one year til after income tax receipts are issued in case anyone comes forward indicating a discrepancy in their givings.

You need them at least until your audit is done. The auditor will randomly compare the actual envelope to the computer record and to the bank record of the cheque if it was a cheque.

( one year I volunteered to help with our audit and this was the task I was assigned. I think over the course of the year I had to compare 100 records.)

I suspect that you should keep them until there is no chance of a re audit. Your auditor will know for sure

When in doubt, ask a pro, I always say.

Mendalla

The auditor forgot to tell the church I attended. Every drawer, every shelf in a particular room was filled with envelopes going back years. So long, the elastic bands had rotted. lol

The church should be asking its auditor, or another accounting professional, to supply guidelines on retention of financial records, not waiting for them to say something.

Mendalla

It used to be spelled out in UCC record keeping handbook - I think it use to say that you needed to keep them for one full year and a half, but I can't remember.  But I couldn't find this handbook anywhere on line.  Something I read that came across recently said what Rev. John said, that once they were recorded in your donation system you didn't need to keep them.

I just think that there is always the possiblity that a congregant could check their statement at the end of the year and feel there are errors, and that the church would need the envelopes to go back and refer to.

I will check with our auditor.

Perhaps I'm unique - I never put any information on my envelop.  I just assumed that the 'tellers' would slit my envelop open, remove my donation, record it in their books, and toss it aside.  I'm not fussy about using the right envelop either.  I grab one from the box - it might be a July envelop being used in September.  

A lot of our members don't put anything on the envelope either, seeler - and so we fall back to nothing indicated the givings go to General Funds.  Our envelopes are counted by members of our church each Sunday, and then this information is forwarded to the secretary who records it on our donations program.

When counters come across an evelope with cash/cheque inside but no indication of where it is to go, the counters fill in the amount under local givings and initial it.

A lot of our members don't always use the right envelope either, and that is okay - especilal if it is July in September.  But if it is September in July, we can't count it until September, because if it is ahead of the actual date we assume that the giver has submitted it to be received that date, as we have a lot of people who go away for weeks at a time

Your annual audit will note that in this type of business the numbers can't totally be confirmed. It will be some sort of declaration at the beginning.

However , every effort must be made to check the deposits.

In our case, stewards open the offering on Sunday. Each envelope is checked that what is inside agrees with what is written. The dollar amount is noted in the corner. If nothing is written, two stewards double check the donation and note it on the envelope.

All envelopes are totalled on an adding machine and the total is checked with the envelopes again.

All cash is added and double checked.

All these must balance and the form signed by two.

Then it is put in the safe and the book keeper rechecks on Monday, and deposits to the bank.

All these records are checked and audited.

The obvious fraud would be someone who takes a portion of the. Cash that has no money noted on the envelop. You should always note your donation for your own records. In addition, someone could write $50 but put in $5. If it is recorded as $50, and not properly recorded that is fraud as well. Say that the counter is your friend and it is a deal you have together. Some one attempting to cheat on their taxes.

It is extremely important to double check the data. The risk is losing your charitable status

Also , all the envelopes need to be saved along with all the adding machine tapes, and in order. We sort ours into numerical order for counting.

my goodness ... labour intensive!  Makes a further case for going on PAR. 

I wish everyone in our church was on PAR :) - it would be so much easier for us counters.

Beloved - from the UCC Financial Handbook for Congregations - 2010; page 125 - 

I think I might have thrown our tellers for a loop last spring.  My daughter, my sister and I were getting ready for church.  I dug out an envelop and put in my donation.  My daughter took one of my stale-dated envelopes and put in her donation.  (she'd forgotten her envelop but figured that one of us might as well get the tax credit.  Then my sister, visiting from another province and belonging to another denomination, also used one of my envelopes.   Three envelopes coming in with my number in one day.

Ahhh . . . that's where I read the part about the offering envelopes.  Thanks, carolla!  I think we will at least keep ours until the books are closed for the year.

Sounds similar to when I used to count in the eighties though a bit more strenuous in places. As others suggest, encouraging PAR rather than cutting corners is the way to cut down on the load.

Mendalla

That's interesting that at they only need to Be kept for one year. As a steward I will discuss with our treasurer. I think we keep several years.

A church, with cash and cheque donations really does need to. Be very careful to record correctly. The risks are real.

We are a large congregation with a large budget so. We really do take care that our records are as accurate as they can be